The BIOECONOMY Village @Maker Faire Rome 2018

The BIOECONOMY VILLAGE, promoted by the European Commission and BBI JU projects BIOWAYS, BIOVOICES, STAR-ProBio and Biobridges in collaboration with Maker Faire Rome has achieved great success in terms of public involvement and participation. This year Maker Faire Rome dedicated an entire exhibition pavilion, The Circular Eni pavilion (promo video in italian here), to sustainability, circular economy and bioeconomy.

The pavilion, through the exhibition of products, examples, thematic workshops and practical demonstrations, shown to the visitors in a clear and engaging way how the circular economy and the bioeconomy increasingly make part in our daily life and how the consumers’ awareness and choices can have a positive impact on the environment, society and economy.

Within the Circlur Eni pavilion the BIOECONOMY Village involved 51 among national and European projects, research, start-ups, organizations and associations:

The BIOECONOMY Village aims at raising awareness and inform the general public, improving knowledge on products from renewable origin (Bio-based) and promoting the applications and benefits of Bioeconomy, circular economy and sustainability. It encourage the dialogue and mutual learn between the general public and representatives of universities, research centers, projects, companies, associations and start-ups. It also wants to strengthen the discussion among the stakeholders that make sustainable development and bioeconomy a concrete commitment, consolidating existing collaborations and involving new actors in the realization of the initiative.

During the three days of the exhibition, Maker Faire Rome and Eni (Main Sponsor of the Event) organised three round tables on the theme of the circular economy and the bioeconomy.

On Saturday, October 13 from 12.00 to 13.50 Susanna Albertini (FVA) on behalf of the BIOVOICES and BIOWAYS projects partecipated to the round table THE BIOECONOMY AND THE ADVENT OF THE NEOMATERIALS moderated by Mauro Spagnolo (the video is available in Italian here).

The round table addressed the following topics: How the life of citizens is changing through the adoption of new economic models based on the sustainable use of natural resources and their transformation into services and goods produced so far from fossil sources? Will the bioeconomy really have the capacity to radically replace traditional economic systems and with which performance limitations for Italian families? What impact will the development of biotechnology and bioenergy have on our social system?
National experts in the sector discussed and analyzed how the development of secondary raw materials will open new markets, what are the environmental and economic potentials of the sector and what factors restrain its rapid potential development.

During the Maker Faire three BIOVOICES Mobilisation and Mutual Learning workshops (MML) took place, focused on “What are the challenges to be tackled to promote #bioeconomy and bio-based products?”.

Experts were invited to discuss how making BBP widely available, easy to use, discard and cheap and how identify ways to increase adoption by better communication and by finding better contexts to sell BBP products.

Furthermore, an interactive survey called “Make your voice heard!” involved the large public in a very engaging way. Promote changes in purchase habits, raise awareness among early adopters (e.g. supermarkets, schools) and consumers to use BBP, guarantee safety to increase trust in BBP, develop a coherent terminology were the relevant topics. Hundreds of interesting “voices” were collected for the purpose of the BIOVOICES and STAR-ProBio projects.

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Biobridges project was conceived to tackle the key challenge of improving the marketability of bio-based products (BBPs) by fostering close cooperation and partnerships among bio-based industries, brand owners and consumers’ representatives. 👥

FVA for @BIOWAYS_EU @biovoices and @BiobridgesH2020 presented during the #closingevent the results achieved during the #EuropeanResearchersNight organised with the support of @STAR_ProBio @Spirufarm_ita @Novamont @minimoimpatto and many others